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Almost 20 years ago when I was still a college student, I
had an old car that I jokingly named Goliath because of its
huge size. This car was older than I was at the time and
drank more gas than a dozen pick-up trucks. It had rotted
wiring that my dad had to replace more than once. The
windshield wipers were broke. The battery died often. The
radio didn’t work and I only had one, scratchy cassette for
the tape player. It often took quite a while to start and
would backfire loud enough to be heard in the next county.
My friends and teachers would often joke that they noticed
buzzards circling my car when I was in class. Still, this
was the car I depended on to commute long distances everyday
and more often than not it got me there. In a lot of ways,
too, this car was a lot like life. The more you complained
about it, the worse it got. If I would complain about the
gas mileage one of the bald tires would blow out. If I would
grouch about the sputtering engine it would start raining
and I would be straining to see through the water all the
way home. If I griped about not having a radio the next time
the engine would not start at all. But, when I laughed about
and accepted all of Goliath’s problems it would run for
weeks without giving me any trouble at all. I would pat its
steering wheel with love and sing along to my old cassette
tape as I drove home in joy. God taught me a lot about life
with that car.
My giant, old, beat-up car showed me that you have to
appreciate what God gives you in this life. You have to
rejoice in the good and grow stronger and more loving from
the bad. You have to see that worrying and complaining only
add to your misery and realize that you can select laughter,
love, and joy instead. You have to reach a point where you
take whatever life gives you and use it to make this world a
better, happier, and more loving place. You have to see that
even if you start out driving a piece of junk in this life,
God is still going to make it a glorious ride.
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